The variants of New delhiMetallo – lactamase-1: A Comparative Assessment

Research Inventy: International Journal of Engineering And Science
Vol.5, Issue 10 (October 2015), PP -01-07
Issn (e): 2278-4721, Issn (p):2319-6483, www.researchinventy.com
1
The variants of New delhiMetallo – lactamase-1: A
Comparative Assessment
SamanFatihi
B Tech( Bio-Tech), Amity University,NOIDA
ABSTRACT: The discovery of antibiotic was a step forward in the medical science. Antibiotics is surely a
boon for public health as it is a life saving drug, but surplus and unnecessary use of antibiotics is harmful as it
is causing bacteria to develop resistance towards them. And therefore one of the biggest problem associated
with antibiotic therapy is resistance. It is not a new issue and was seen shortly after the discovery of antibiotics.
Recent studies have revealed that enterobacteriaceastrains like E.coli and Klebsiella pneumonia isolated from
several Indian centers and other countries are resistant to many antibiotics including the most potent antibiotic
like carbapenems. And this antibiotic resistance is due to thecarbapenemase enzyme called NDM-1 (New
delhiMetallo – lactamase-1) . The uncontrolled NDM-1 is now considered as a nightmare scenario and global
threat due to its rapidly spreading power. They are referred as the “New Superbug”. This review paper is an
update of the current scenario of NDM enzyme in the world and the recent advancements made for its treatment.
There is a need for active screening of microorganisms for NDM-1 and further researches should be done to
develop new classes of safe antibiotics to fight these kinds of infections.
Key words: NDM enzyme, superbug, antibiotic resistance, NDM variants,cladogram,percentage identity matrix.
I. INTRODUCTION
It was in 1942 that Selman Waksman for the first time used the term antibiotic to substances produced
by microorganisms that inhibit the growth of other microorganisms.[1]
However, today the term antibiotic is
used for substances or antimicrobial agents from natural or synthetic sources (any class of organic molecule),
that kill or inhibit the growth of microbes by specific interactions with bacterial targets, without harming the
eukaryotic host harboring the infecting bacteria. An antimicrobial agent have the potency and access in order to
exert its antimicrobial action. The major classes of antibiotics inhibit or kill the bacteria. The present paper
endeavors to analyze the New delhimetallo lactamase-1which is spreading all over the globe The medical
practitioner believe that the medical tourism is one of the reasons of its multiplicity. New delhimetallo
lactamase-1provides evidence to be a serious threat to public healthin view of the fact that it is an enzyme that
makes bacteria resistant to an extensive collection lactam antibiotic drug. Scholars have defined antibiotic
resistance as “the ability of a microorganism to refuse to acceptthe antibiotic pressure and stay alive”, in
opposition to the vulnerable bacteriawhich will be eradicated. The consequence of an antibiotic can either be
bacteriostatic orbactericidal based upon the antibiotic objective and attention. Bacterialvulnerability to a
particular antibiotic can be defined from both a microbial and aclinical point of view. From a bacterial point of
view, a susceptible bacteriumbelongs to a sub-population lacking mechanisms of resistence. Suchvulnerable
bacteria may build up resistance by acquiring antibiotic resistancegenes, and for this reason being able to
survive antibiotic exposure, andbecome resistant . From a clinical point of view, when the bacterium respondsto
antibiotic therapy it is termed susceptible, and if the bacteria does not respondto antibiotic therapy it is
categorized as resistant to that particular antibiotic.Therefore clinically, bacteria can be divided into susceptible,
intermediatesusceptible, or resistant to antibiotics . Mechanisms of resistance are foundwithin bacteria either
intrinsically or they may be acquired. The intrinsicresistance refers to existence of resistance genes as part of the
genomeencoding mechanisms intrinsically found in the population of the bacteria . For instance, Gram-negative
bacteria are intrinsically resistant toglycopeptides and macrolides due to their impermeable outer
membrane.Further, due to the lack of a cell-wall, Mycoplasma intrinsically shows resistanceto β-lactams other
cell-wall biosynthesis targeting antibiotics[2]
. In contrast,the acquired resistance mechanisms are attained by
bacteria through mutationsor mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer such as transformation, conjugation,and
transduction . For instance, many β-lactamase genes are acquired bybacteria through mobile genetic elements
such as plasmids, transposons, and insertion sequence common region (ISCR) elements.[3]
Plasmids canreplicate
independently within bacteria and also transfer between bacterial cellsand species, spreading resistance. Further,
the rapid generation time ofbacteria support them to develop quickly and for this reason become resistant to
antibioticswithin a short period of time.Generally bacteria show evidence of biochemical resistance by three
different mechanisms[4]
:

The variants of New delhiMetallo – lactamase-1: A Comparative…
2
 by reducing their permeability into the cell and/or
 by active effluxmechanism
 by structurally altering the antibiotic targets byenzymatic modification or inactivation of the antibiotic
before reaching the targets.
Bacteria can combine these mechanisms to exhibit resistance towardsantibiotics.Increasing antibiotic resistance
is a major problem especially multi drug resistance in bacterial strains which leads to a limited range of
treatment options. When we take antibiotic against a bacterial strain, the bacteria sometimes fight back. When
antibiotic resistance takes place another antibiotic is used. This is how bacteria builds up resistance to more than
one antibiotic. The main reason for multi drug resistance is antibiotic overuseand it has become common rather
than being a exception and thus it proves to be a challenge for the treatment of clinical infections.
Figure 1: An overall representation of bacterial resistance mechanisms (modified from Levy, S.B et al., 2004)
NDM-1
NDM-1 was first detected in a Swedish patient from Klebsiellapneumoniae isolate in 2008.[5]
Since then it has
been in great attention of researchers and has made headlines for its ability of rapid spread worldwideand
making the last antibiotics known as carbapenems incompetent. The NDM-1 is encoded by the blaNDM-1 novel
gene.blaNDM-1 gene is also accompanied by other genes responsible for antibiotic resistance like, rifampicin,
ciprofloxacillin, chloramphenicol and erythromycin . The NDM-1 was reported as the newest superbugin the
scientific journal “The Lancet Infectious Diseases”2010,.[6]
It is interesting to note that 37 strains of NDM-1
were reported in UK, and 99 in India. Gram negative bacteria such as E.coli and Klebsiella pneumonia but what
makes NDM a superbug is the ability of NDM gene to spread from one strain of bacteria to another by
horizontal gene transfer.[7]
Walsh et al discovered the prevalence of blaNDM-1 in drinking water and seepage
samples in New Delhi and hence named the enzyme “New Delhi Metallo- lactamase”.The genes of the
patients of NDM 1 is by and large found worldwide and it advocates the wide increase and multiplicity of the
enzyme. The medical practitioners believe that the medical tourism is one of the reasons of its multiplicity.
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In this paper attempt has been made to make a systematic review of the literature on NDM 1 to summarize the
descriptive features of the NDM-1. As discussed earlier NDM-1 is an enzyme reported worldwide from January
2008. In this part of the present paper some research studies have been selected to make a systematic review of
New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase type 1 (NDM-1). For convenience these research studies have been further
divided into two broad categories of
1. case series and case reports of NDM-1, or
2. active surveillance and environmental surveillance studies of NDM-1-producing bacteria.

3
A close analysis of these research studies suggests that sixty cases with NDM-1-producing bacteria were
presented colonization without evidence of infection. In many of these studies urine was the most common
specimen source for cases with infection and colonization. Seventeen cases had NDM-1-producing bacteria at
more than one body site.In most of these reported casesKlebsiellapneumoniae and Escherichia coli were
detected frequently, and the multilocus sequence type data from 34 E. coli and K. pneumoniae clinical isolates
make available an unfinished, yet varied and diverse world-wideallocation of NDM-1-producing bacteria.[8]
It is interesting to note that the majority of thesecases had exposure to the Indian subcontinent of south Asia,
and laboratory surveillance systems, as well as an environmental survey from India, suggest a presence of
ecological and environmental reservoir for possible human infection and colonization with NDM-1-producing
bacteria.
The knowledge of the 3-dimensional structure of blaNDM-1 gene will help revealing the mechanism and
functional aspects of NDM-1 and its antibiotic resistance property. The blaNDM-1 gene encoding β-lactamase
isfound on a large 180-kb resistance. It is a genetic element extractedfrom Klebsiella pneumonia. It is plasmid
borne which makes it easily transferable and rapidly spread to other bacteria.Furthermore, it controlled a
multiplicity of other resistance determinants.It includes a genetic materialprogramming another broad-spectrum
β-lactamases (CMY-4). It also holds genes which inactivate erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, rifampicin, and
chloramphenicol. Adding up, the genetic element encoded an efflux pump competent of providing added help
toadditional antimicrobial resistance and growth promoters.[9]
The scientists have observed a possible rearrangement of blaNDM-1 in vivo either from K. pneumoniaeto E. coli
or vice versa, but what builds it interesting is that the plasmids carrying blaNDM-1 in these two species are of
two different sizes. The fact that they are of two sizes suggeststhat there is rearrangement in vivo which could
be either due to duplication or insertion. The blaNDM-1 open reading frame encodes a putative protein of 269
amino acids with a molecular mass of approximately 27.5 kDa and also contain N-terminal signal peptide with
conserved LXXC like motif.
Multiple sequence alignment research have shown that NDM-1 have very modest similarity with other MBLs
and is most intimately related to VIM-1/VIM-2, with which it has only 32% similarity. FascinatinglyNDM-1
also has a unique HXHXD pattern among the mobile MBLs, because it contains an alanine between the two
histidines.
NDM-1have a Tyrosine at position 222 instead of tryptophan.NDM-1 have tight binding i.elow Km values to
most cephalosporins. It also showed fairly tight binding to penicillins which is unusal forMBL .Phylogenetic
studies is done to determine the origin of this antibiotic resistant NDM-1 gene by using BLAST.The results
suggested that NDM-1 gene has nearestorthologues in marine bacteria The centerof NDM-1 is made of two β-
sheets, one N-terminal which is further composed of 7 antiparallel strands named from β1 - β7 and the other is
C-terminal which is composed of 5 antiparallel strands fromβ8 - β12. The seven linking helices are located
below α1 - α4 and 310 helix 5 and above are α6 - α7 the plane of the β-sandwich. Hydrophobic interactions
between these helices and β-sheets are important to understand the structural details. It also involves H bonds
(Glutamine-96 with carbonyl of Tyrosine-64, Threonine-98 with carbonyl of Alanine-92, Tyrosine-229 with
carbonyl of Leucine-209 and Serine-232 with carbonyl of Proline-187). These strands and helices are linked by
flexible loops present above a 600 Å active site cavity. Similar unique features on primary sequence and
unusually large cavity of the active site were also seen for the crystal structure of the 24-kDa, NDM-1[10]
The amino acid sequence of NDM-1 from Klebsiellapneumoniae is 241 amino acids long and is generated by
taking the FASTA sequence of NDM-1 from ncbi and then cleaving it by using Peptide cutter for all possible
enzyme.
10 20 30 40 50 60
ALMLSGCMPG EIRPTIGQQM ETGDQRFGDL VFRQLAPNVW QHTSYLDMPG FGAVASNGLI
70 80 90 100 110 120
VRDGGRVLVV DTAWTDDQTA QILNWIKQEI NLPVALAVVT HAHQDKMGGM DALHAAGIAT
130 140 150 160 170 180
YANALSNQLA PQEGMVAAQH SLTFAANGWV EPATAPNFGP LKVFYPGPGH TSDNITVGID
190 200 210 220 230 240
GTDIAFGGCL IKDSKAKSLG NLGDADTEHY AASARAFGAA FPKASMIVMS HSAPDSRAAI
T

4
The outline is thatNDM-1 adopttheMBL fold that facilitates β-lactam antibiotic hydrolysis by a 2 zinc-catalyzed
mechanism .Though, NDM-1 shows a larger active site and an electrostatic profile that can contain a wide
variety of substrate molecules. Also NDM-1 reveals important rearrangements around the active site upon
substrate binding and product formation.
Methods used for Detection of NDM-1
1. Screening of NDM-1 producers
ChromID ESBL is used as screening culture medium which contains cefpodoxime and is usually used toscreen
for extended-spectrum β-lactamase producers bacteria. Theability of this medium to identify NDM-1 producers
is due to the fact that producers arealso resistant to expanded spectrum cephalosporins in part due to the wide-
spectrum hydrolyticproperties of the β-lactamase NDM-1. Hence , the detection is possible using ChromID
ESBLeven though the strain may not express an ESBL.
2. Bacterial isolates and susceptibility testing
The bacterial isolates can be identified first by the disc diffusion technique on Mueller Hinton agarplates with
beta-lactam and non beta-lactam antibiotic containing disc.
3. Modified Hodge test
Modified Hodge test is extensively used as phenotypic detection technique for detection of NDM-1 activity. A
1/10 dilution of 0.5 McFarland turbidity standard of fresh overnight growth of the NDM-1 producing organism
was inoculated on Mueller Hinton Agar. Two points are marked a little apart in the centre of the plate. One was
marked as 'Zn' and the other point was left unmarked and an imipenem disc was placed at this point. The test
strains are heavily streaked from the edge of the disc to periphery. Three strains should be inoculated per plate.
[11]
4. PCR amplification and sequencing
All amplified DNA fragments are purified using the PCR purification kit and sequenced using a sequencer. The
nucleotide and deduced protein sequences can be analysed. A real-time PCR assay is used to detect blaNDM-1.
Justsmallamounts of total DNA isolated from one bacterial colony was sufficient to allow detection of blaNDM-
1 by real-time PCR quickly. [12]
NDM and its variant
Since the discovery of first strain of NDM-1, new forms or variants of blaNDM-1have been found which posses a
slight variation from the standard NDM gene. Till date twelve variants of NDM-1 enzyme have been reported
(NDM2-NDM13).[13]
 NDM-2
The first variant NDM-2 was reported by Kaase et al in 2011. It is a point mutation variant that had a Cytosine
to Guanine substitution at position 82 which resulted in an amino acid substitution of a proline to an alanine
residue at position 28 (Pro → Ala).The MIC values of lactams including carbapenems have no major difference
between NDM-1 and NDM-2 producers as the point mutation is considered to be at the last amino acid. NDM-2
has been identified in several A. baumannii strains .
Pro Ala
 NDM-3
The NDM-3 variant was isolated from an E.coli isolate and differs from NDM-1 by a single nucleotide change
at position 95 which changes Aspartate to Asparagine(Asp → Asn).
NDM-3 does not change the hydrolytic activity of the enzyme.
Asp Asn
 NDM-4

5
NDM-4 variant is also isolatedfrom E.coli strains and it differs from NDM-1 by a single amino acid substitution
at position 154 changing Methionine into Leucine (Met → Leu). This amino acid substitution results in
increased hydrolytic activity of NDM-4 than NDM-1.[14]
Met Leu
 NDM-5
The NDM-5 variant changesValine to Leucineat position 88 and has been identified in E.coli.[15]
Val Leu
 NDM-6
The NDM-6 variant differs from NDM-1 by a single amino acid substitution at position 233 replacing Valine by
Alanine (Ala → Val) and is found in E.coli.
Ala Val
 NDM-7
The NDM-7 variant was isolated from E.coli strain recovered from a French patient who travelled to Burma and
an E. coli isolate recovered from a Yemeni patient. The gene differs from NDM-1 gene by two amino-acid
substitutions at positions 388 (G→A) and 460 (A→C) leading to amino acid substitutions at position 130 (Asp
→ Asn) changing Aspartate into Aspargine and at 154 methionine into leucine. (Met → Leu).[16]
Asp Asn
Met Leu
 NDM-8
In NDM-8, substitutions occur at positions 130 changing Aspartate into Glycine (Asp → Gly) and 154 (Met →
Leu) compared with NDM-1. [17]
AspGly
Met Leu
 NDM-9
NDM-9 variant was isolated from ST107 Klebsiellapneumoniae strain found in China.
 NDM-10
NDM-10 is also found in Klebsiellapneumoniae.
 NDM-11
NDM-11 is a variant of NDM-1 which is found from E.coli.
 NDM-12
NDM-12 was identified in E.coli clinical isolate from the urine sample from a patient of Nepal. It differs from
NDM-1 by two amino acid substitution at position 222. The 2 substitutions G222D and M154L in NDM-12
affect the activity of the enzyme.[18]
 NDM-13
NDM-13 is the most recent discovered variant of NDM-1 which is isolated from a Multidrug resistance E.coli
clinical isolate in Nepal.It is obtained from the urine sample of the patient. It has been observed that there is no
change in the enzymatic activity of NDM-13from NDM-1. However, it showed comparatively high Kcat/Km
ratio.[19]
In all 12 variants known the substitution take place at 13 amino acid positions including28, 32, 36, 69, 74, 88,
95, 130, 152, 154, 200, and 222.
Given below is the cladogram of NDM-1 and its variants which depicts the relationship between them which is
generated by Clustal omega.

6
Given below is the Percent Identity Matrix- created by Clustal omega which depict what percentage of the two
sequences have functional similarity or identity.
NDM-9 NDM-10 NDM-6 NDM-1 NDM-2 NDM-3 NDM-13 NDM-12 NDM-11 NDM-8 NDM-7
NDM-4 NDM-5

7
The depicted results do not show major differences in the hydrolytic and catalytic efficiencies of the studied
NDM variants.From the results it is revealed that the clinically observed substitutions can make substantial
differences in thermodynamic stability of the enzyme.Earlier reports point out that the substitutions affect NDM
activity even though being located outside the active site.
III. CONCLUSION
A closed look at the table given above suggests that all the variants emerging out of NDM-1 is the
result of some slight change in the sequence of the gene of this enzyme. Furthermore, the frequency of change
from “Methionine→Leucine” is much more higher in comparison of other variations in the gene sequence.
However, it should be mentioned here that what make these variants differ is the position at which these
mutations occur .
As shown in the table the frequency of occurrence of “Methionine→Leucine” is much more higher than other
patterns. With a high frequency of 33.3% it enjoys the top position followed by Aspartate→ Asparagine with
22,2 percent of occurrence. All others have only 11,1 % of the frequency of occurrence..
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